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Monthly Archives: February 2013

This month I decided to try out some products from Lush as I really liked their lip colour that I received in my January Lust Have It beauty box (previous post here). I have read a lot of great reviews about their Dream Cream doing wonders for people who have eczema so I decided to buy it and try it out when I went in to get a free sample of their 9 to 5 Cleanser.

The sample cleanser came in a little plastic container and you could easily get around 4 or 5 uses of the cleanser however I went a little crazy when I first tried it and used up too much! It has quite a strong scent as it has ylang ylang oil and having sensitive skin I am used to using products that are unscented so I immediately thought that I might break out after using this. Having used it for about 3 days now, it works quite well however doesn’t remove my make up so overall I think I might stick to my cleanser wipes as they are easy to use and easily remove my make up at the end of the day.

I purchased the Dream Cream for $28.95 and was really excited to try it out due to all the rave reviews. Again like the cleanser however, it has such a strong scent from the lavender and tea tree oil. My eczema has somewhat gotten quite bad over the past few weeks and I don’t know if it’s the change in weather or my lack of sleep etc but I really wanted to find something that would make it all go away. After using the Dream Cream for the first time on Wednesday my skin felt soft and I felt quite a cooling sensation when I applied this after my shower. Yesterday however, I used it again and I got quite itchy after wearing it for a while 😦 I might try using it again but just on a small part of my arm or something to see what happens because I really want it to work!!

Another new thing I tried recently was the 5am organic yoghurt and OMG it tastes so good!! I initially bought the coffee bean flavour but after tasting that it was so deliciously creamy, my hubby and I went back to Woolworths to buy all the other flavours and they too tasted amazing!

It’s such a gamble sometimes when trying out new body creams and mositurisers as my skin is so sensitive but I guess that’s the only way you get to finding out what works and what doesn’t work right?!

Rewind performing in the Dance Zone arena, Wes ordering a hot dog with the lot from the Grill Kings, Daniel & I in front of Luna Park, lunch at Dahon Tea Lounge in South Melbourne, dinner at Kotaraya in Elsternwick

Dance.Lunch&Dinner

St Kilda Festival – DanceZone (Sea Baths carpark area)

The weather was perfect yesterday for the 2013 St Kilda Festival and the first day of the Lunar New Year of the snake! Rewind performed from 1pm until 1.45pm at the DanceZone arena alongside special guests, Kstar and Mute Crew. Initially we were worried that the crowd was a bit sparse but once the music got going and MC Steve took over the mic, the huge crowds came in to watch! It was so great to see these crews continuing to inspire the community to get involved through their love of dance. If you are interested in dance classes these crews teach in various locations around Melbourne teaching 1 year olds right through to adults!

Dahon Tea Lounge – 111 Cecil St, South Melbourne

After performing at the DanceZone arena and stopping at a hot dog stand we made our way through the crowds with Baby in his pram and walked back to our car to have lunch somewhere a little more comfortable for a mamma and Baby ;P You know I never really paid much attention to prams in shopping centres or out and about, but since having a baby I really admire the courageous mums who get out there despite constantly have people cutting in front or not acknowledging that they may need a little more space than normal to get by.

We had lunch just off Clarendon street at a Filipino tea lounge called Dahon. It was nice to relax and sit down with a cold rockmelon drink and refreshing iced tea. I ordered the garlic rice with chicken adobo and pork tocino skewers which I chomped down quickly as I was so hungry from performing earlier. For dessert we had halo halo – a Filipino shaved iced dessert which is a different version of the Malaysian cendol or the 3 coloured drinks. It was nice and big and full of toppings. If you are not familiar with the Philippine cuisine then I suggest you ease into it buy ordering the rice and skewer combo and by trying the rockmelon iced drink 🙂

Kotaraya Asian Multi cuisine – 237 Glenhuntly Rd, Elsternwick

After just chilling at Dahon for a while and having some rest time with Baby, we made our way to the east side for a dinner to celebrate the Lunar New Year with hubby’s side of the family. Filipinos celebrate the western new year on January first but with hubby’s family being Malaysian/Chinese we headed to Kotaraya to have traditional Lunar New Year dishes like Yu Shang! The first time I had this dish was in KL – see previous post! We had about 8 different dishes to share and they were all so tasty! Especially a fish dish – I didn’t get to take I picture of everything or even look at the menu because baby was unsettled and needed to sleep). I really want to come back here again so I can get the names of the dishes we ordered for you, I think they were part of a special new year’s menu. The desserts were colourful as you would have seen in other restaurants of this type and very sweet and we finished off with a juicy, cold fruit platter.

All in all even though it was a little tiring, we had a great day with family and friends. With a friend suddenly passing away last week, it just reminds me that making time for your loved ones should always be at the top of your list of things to do. Life is short and you can never shower anyone with too much love so if you haven’t seen you mum, dad, cousin, friends in a while then why not call them up for a catch up? 😉

With Chinese New Year coming up this Sunday, I had a flashback to when we spent CNY in KL a couple of years ago. Being of Filipino background we never really celebrate CNY so it was exciting to see so much colour and festivities taking place!

There was a dish they called Yu Shang that was made up of different colourful ingredients and together all the members of the family would use chopsticks to mix it all up and toss it around bringing prosperity the higher it was tossed! Kelly Siew has a great blog entry on this dish with a recipe for you to re-create for this weekend’s new year occassion!

Malaysia is rich with a never-ending array of tasty dishes and I couldn’t believe that I had never tried nasi lemak before! We stopped to eat at Old Town White Coffee whenever we could as I was obsessed with their nasi lemak dish and kaya toast (see pictures above)! A must-try if you’re in KL 🙂

What are some Chinese New Year traditions you follow? And what are some dishes that will be served on your dinner table this Sunday?

When hubby was figuring out what to get me for my birthday I was so pleasantly surprised that he bought me a subscription to a beauty box. These beauty boxes/glam bags etc have been all the rage over the past year or so with the Australian market joining in on the beauty and skin care fun! So here I present to you my first Lust Have It! box for 2013 – the January edition!

All new packaging – the box! I love receiving mail – especially when it is not a bill or a fine! The first Lust Have It! package for 2013 came in their fresh new boxed packaging which I really like as they look so pretty with their pastel pink flocked print and their handy little size. The box also has a magnetic strip along one side so that it closes flush and secure. I also like the feel of the box – it is matte and smooth. This new packaging is a change from their make up bags last year and I can’t wait to post DIY on what I am going to use it for after I’ve finished using up all the samples in it! Now let’s get onto what is inside:

Lush Cosmetics lip colour in Strong Always

1) Lush Cosmetics – Lip Colour When I first saw this bright orange product I thought it was nail polish and even when I opened it I was a little confused as to what to use it for. After visiting Lush’s website, it is actually lip colour! Yay!! (not sure if I missed the label on the packaging?) To me it feels like a mix between a lipstick and a lip balm – it glides on quite smoothly and is very pigmented so the colour is nice and bright! I tried it out straight away and wore this orange lippy (which I wouldn’t normally wear) to dance rehearsal and it lasted all night and the colour is actually very wearable! Such a nice surprise! I also love that it is vegan friendly as I’ve been reading The Kind Diet this month and well, that’s another blog post in itself!!

This is why I like these subscriptions so much – you get to discover new products and colours that you normally wouldn’t purchase! By the end of the night there was still colour on my lips – like a lip tint! This is such a great product that I definitely want to try out all the other colours on the Lush website. You can check out how it looks on me on my YouTube channel.

Nude By Nature

2) Nude By Nature – BB cream For those of you who have not come across the BB (blemish balm/beauty balm) cream craze, it is basically an all in one make up and skin care product to replace serum, moisturizer, primer, foundation, and sunscreen! I actually bought this 5-in-1 mineral miracle creamabout 2 weeks ago in the “dark” shade and I should have bought “medium”…and can you guess what shade I received? – “medium”! It may look a little light but it the medium blends in well and also allows me to finish with a bronzer! Compared to some other bb creams I have tried recently, I find that Nude’s BB cream suits my combination skin really well. It goes on smoothly and does not make my face feel dry. It provides a light coverage and if I wanted to I could just use extra concealer to cover up any blemishes. I have used this and the Lush lip colour which you can check out on my LHI video! Overall I have continued to use this BB cream everyday since I received it and even bought some more NBN prodcuts from Priceline which I’ll upload a post on soon! So thank you LHI! for including this BB cream in your January beauty box!

3) Lust Have It! – Kabuki brush Another full sized item and the synthetic brush feels soft to touch so I can’t wait to use this!

4) Klorane – Shampoo & Conditioner To be honest I get a lot more excited when receiving make up products in these boxes so I wasn’t to phased by these sachet samples. However, I am yet to use them so if they turn out well I’ll have LHI to thank for discovering a fresh new shampoo and conditioner! 🙂

5) Avene – Cleanance Skin Range I am also yet to use these 3 sample sized skin care products (a gel cleanser, cream exfoliant and anti-shine moisturiser). I rubbed a little of the moisturiser on my hand and it smells so pretty!

What did you think of your January 2013 Lust Have It! box?

I’d love to hear about any thoughts, recommendations or comments you might have so leave a comment and subscribe. Did you get the same products in your delivery? Which products did you like/dislike?

Have a beautiful Friday! 🙂

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